About the artwork

1. Of my more than 3000+ paintings, I am selling a few originals including my Park City, Utah painting.
2. I hope someone enjoys this acrylic on aluminum painting as much as I do.
3. I have driven past the McPolin Farm/Barn/House/grazing cattle many times alone and with family and friends.
4. Amateur and professional photographers and several fine artists have captured the detail of the Farm; and I would be remiss not to acknowledge and honor and admire much of their work.
5. If I had wanted to give you detail about the Farm structures and the fall landscape and the unique balloons, I would have used my camera to share a photograph or two, or I would have used a projector or camera obscura, or printing process to give you more nearly an exact image.
6. My creative and philosophical intent, though, with my 16.5 inch by 16.5 inch black framed painting on aluminum was not to provide you with hyper detail.
7. My intent was and still is to provide nostalgic context and to capture the living feeling of the Farm in a setting of fall colors, with the overarching balloon festival balloons high above the Barn and animals and foliage.
8. Because of the aluminum reflection, the viewer's mind fills in some if not all of the details.
9. The aluminum breathes a reflected life into the painting.
10. McPolin Farm is iconic to the Park City, Utah area.
11. It is the most prominent visual entry corridor gateway landmark to Park City .
12. It is farm bucolic to say the least.
13. It serves as a mental escape from the fast lane Park City life and the extreme housing and golf course and other structure build-up in and surrounding Park City.
14. Patrick and Grace McPolin inherited the farm in 1922.
15. They ran the farm as a dairy farm until they sold the farm to D.A. Osguthorpe, a Salt Lake Veterinarian, in 1947.
16. He added more cows until they had circa 100 milkers.
17. D.A. also built the milking parlor.
18. The barn now carries a massive American flag.
19. The McPolins built the barn using old tailing mill timbers in 1922.
20. Nails were not used.
21. The barn is 7,468 sq. feet. including a loft and 1500 sq. feet milking parlor which was added in the 1950s.
22. So visitors can see out, windows have been installed in the barn.
23. The 400 sq. feet McPolin farm house (used to be a mine office) is a replica of the original McPolin house - moved to the site in the 1920s.
24. The facility has reconstructed equipment shed houses and restrooms and meeting room.
25. The old house burned not long after D.A. bought the farm.
26. The family lived in a concrete block house across the street until 1990 when Park City bought the farm.
27. The Farm has been refurbished.
28. There was a structural upgrade to the barn.
29. A biking and hiking and skiing trail runs along the eastern edge of the Farm.
30. There is a formal McPolin Farm Historic Preservation Plan.
31. For internet pictures type in McPolin Farm Park City, UT.
32. The biggest air balloon festival is the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival.
33. One website suggests there are more than 600 balloons in the Albuquerque Festival.
34. Hot air balloon rides out of Park City still soar over Summit County and surrounding areas.
35. These rides are launched at sunrise due to the stabile atmosphere and usual calm winds.
36. For lack of sponsors, the Park City Autumn Aloft and the Ogden Balloon festival sadly are cancelled.
37. The Park City Autumn Aloft started in the 1980s, soared for several years, endured a gap of 20 years, occurred in 2014 and each year in September until 2023.
38. The Park City Autumn Aloft event hosted a couple of dozen balloons; notwithstanding the limited number of balloons, there was a large number of spectators, and a Mainstreet event in downtown Park City.
39. So my painting is nostalgic.
40. For the fun of it I included a Darth Vader balloon.
41. To buy this painting, you can contact me at r.linford@comcast.net or 801-712-0066. My preference is via email as phone calls are subject to misinterpretation and are not detailed.